BME280
Works with
Any CircuitPython board with I2C or SPI
What it does
The BME280 combines temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure measurement in a single package. Think of it as a BMP280 with humidity added. It is one of the most common all-in-one environmental sensors in maker projects because a single chip and a few lines of code give you three useful readings. Typical applications include weather stations, indoor climate monitors, and any data-logging project that benefits from capturing all three environmental variables together.
Installing the library
Copy the adafruit_bme280/ folder from the Adafruit CircuitPython Bundle to your board's lib/ folder. The library ships as a package rather than a single .mpy file. Also copy adafruit_bus_device/ if it is not already present.
Quick start
import board
import busio
from adafruit_bme280 import basic as adafruit_bme280
i2c = busio.I2C(board.SCL, board.SDA)
sensor = adafruit_bme280.Adafruit_BME280_I2C(i2c)
# Set local sea-level pressure for accurate altitude calculation
sensor.sea_level_pressure = 1013.25 # hPa
print(sensor.temperature)
print(sensor.humidity)
print(sensor.pressure)
print(sensor.altitude)
Key things you can do
| What you want | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Read temperature (°C) | sensor.temperature |
| Read relative humidity (%) | sensor.humidity |
| Read pressure (hPa) | sensor.pressure |
| Read estimated altitude (m) | sensor.altitude |
| Improve altitude accuracy | sensor.sea_level_pressure = 1013.25 (use local station pressure) |
Reading the official docs
https://docs.circuitpython.org/projects/bme280/en/latest/
Import from adafruit_bme280.basic for standard use. The docs also include an advanced module with oversampling and filter controls if you need finer tuning of noise versus response speed.
Projects using this library
- Adafruit BME280 Humidity + Barometric Pressure + Temperature Sensor Breakout — wiring, pinouts, and CircuitPython walkthrough. Credit: Adafruit Learning System
- Weather Station — logs temperature, humidity, and pressure to a display and SD card. Credit: This wiki